Cast Your Soul Upon the Waters
by Quin Firefrorefiddle
Summary: We learn a little bit about Ranger as Stephanie learns about herself. Set after EINE.


Cast Your Soul Upon the Waters

Author: Quin

Disclaimer: I own everybody not mentioned in Evanovich's wonderful books. The others I'm just taking out to play with and will return with nothing hurt but their pride and reputations. Probably. No money made.

Chapter 1

My name is Stephanie Plum, the Bombshell Bounty Hunter of Trenton, NJ, and I've screwed up yet again.

Or at least I'm pretty sure.

I came back to Trenton about a week ago after going down to Jacksonville, FL, to help my then-good-friend, now-boyfriend, retrieve his daughter from kidnappers. As it turned out I was there for moral support, as I really didn't do much of anything. Ranger (aka Batman/Big Bad Bounty Hunter/Cuban Sex Idol), his ex-wife Amy, and her boyfriend Chris had things pretty much under control.

Chris ending up dead was an unforeseen side effect. He got shot by the guy (Terry Churchward) who started it all but not the guy who kidnapped Rosie (Ranger's daughter). We didn't know who that was. Turns out it was Terry's dad, who had been trying to save Terry's life.

Even weirder was that it was Terry's sister who had inadvertently caused Rosie to get kidnapped in the first place by telling Amy some things she shouldn't have.

So Terry's dad's dead (mob hit, long story), sister's awaiting trial for organized crime involvement, and his mother went over the edge because of all the stress, and is now in a home, since they had no evidence against her.

None of this actually has much to do with why I've screwed up, but it explains where I'm coming from.

See, Chris dying was the last straw, so to speak, for Amy, and she's moved up here, to Hamilton Township, to get away from all the memories in Florida. She's got a friend, a former teacher, who has a Lutheran Church in the Township, and has offered her the assistant pastorship there until he retires, when she'll inherit the church.

So yesterday we (Ranger, me, and Tank and Bobby, who in addition to Tank being Ranger's 2nd in command and Bobby his employee, also happen to be old friends of Ranger's and Amy's) were helping her move in. Simple enough, right? Big buff ex-Army guys took the heavy stuff, Amy and I the medium stuff, and Rosie the really little stuff.

Ranger and I, not having been alone together for over 12 hours, were getting a little antsy when he finally managed to corner me in a bathroom. And he kissed me senseless.

And said, "I love you, Babe."

And scared the crap out of me, and I froze up.

And so now I'm hoping he'll pick up his cell so I can apologize.

Chapter 2

"Yo."

"Hey Ranger."

"Babe." Emotionless, cold, even. Wow, was I screwed.

"Umm, listen, Ranger, we need to talk."

"Okay." Master of the one word answer. As always.

"Can you come by my place sometime today?"

"Noon?"

"Sure, thanks."

"Yeah." _Click._

Well, that went well. NOT. And now I had two hours to sit around worrying and feeling sorry for myself. Which wouldn't be good to start out with, but I didn't sleep well last night, so that added to me being worked up and scared is even worse.

I went into my bedroom to talk to Rex. He's a guy, right? Even the strong and silent type, like Ranger. Well, silent anyways. Most hamsters are.

Rex didn't have much to say, so I threw myself on the bed and tried to think.

I woke up when I felt a hand come to rest on my shoulder. It was of course Ranger, who had broken in, as usual.

"Hi. Sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep. I didn't sleep to well last night."

"Neither did I." Wow, he's losing sleep over me. He really must like me. A warm fuzzy feeling started creeping up on me, and then stopped dead in it's tracks. He didn't say he had lost sleep over me, he could have been on a stakeout. Besides which, if it was over me, then it certainly wasn't a good thing.

And since I had fallen asleep I had to deal with all this impromptu while still groggy. Great. All I needed to make this day perfect was for a FTA to break into my apartment and try to kill me. Again.

Would you like something for lunch?" When in doubt, play hostess. I did pick up a few things from my mother other than guilt, you know.

Ranger did the raise-one-eyebrow thing. "You're keeping real food in the apartment now?"

"Hey, I almost always do!"

A ghost of a smile passed across his face. No thanks. I already ate."

I got up and he followed me into the living room. "I haven't. Do you mind if I have lunch?"

"Go ahead." Ranger was nothing if not patient, so I figured a little stalling wouldn't hurt. I made myself a peanut butter and olives sandwich and grabbed a ginger ale from the refrigerator. I really wanted a beer, but I wanted to be clearheaded more. I looked at him.

"I'm sorry about yesterday. You surprised me."

Chapter 3

"I guessed that. Good surprise or bad surprise?" His blank face was back.

"Both, I guess." When I saw the look on his face, I backpedaled. "No, that came out wrong. I'm thrilled that you love me, Ranger. I didn't want this to be just sex."

His face relaxed a lot, but not completely. "Was sex all you expected of me?"

"Ranger, I never expected anything of you up until a week and a half ago. I know you aren't that type of guy. I'm trying to tell you that I'm not that type of woman."

The smile was small, but it reached his eyes. "I already knew that, Babe. So what's the bad surprise?"

I swallowed, not entirely sure how he would take this. "I don't think I can say the same words to you, yet."

He nodded. "But you think you'll be able to someday?"

"Yeah." Oh, yeah.

"All right then." The smile hit 200 watts. I was amazed he was taking this so well. I guess his ESP must have kicked in then, because he spoke again. "Babe, I don't mind that you can't say those words yet. Looking at how your last two relationships turned out, I'm not completely surprised. The only reason I can say them is because I fell for you a long time ago. I'm willing to wait. They're important words, and you should be totally comfortable saying them."

"Then why were you upset yesterday?"

He raised an eyebrow. "I wasn't. I was amazed that you could freeze up and get out of a room that fast." The smile turned into a full blown wolf grin. "It's good to know you can move that fast when you have to. Might come in handy."

The shivers skittered up my spine so fast they almost made me jump. Wow, what this man could do to me.

Luckily, he didn't have that effect on himself. "You have anything you need to do this afternoon, Babe?"

I scanned my mental day-planner. "Not really. Connie said yesterday they weren't likely to get any more skips until tomorrow. Why?"

"I'm done for the day, Trenton's been slow lately. I was going to go home, and I was wondering if you'd like to come with?"

To the Batcave? Was he kidding? "Sure! Um… this isn't one of those 'If I tell you, I'll have to kill you' things, is it?"

"No, Babe. But don't tell just anybody my real address, please."

I finished my lunch and we went down to the parking lot. It was very cloudy, and just as Ranger was about to open my door for me, it poured.

I said the one thing I could think of. "Holy Buckets, Batman!"

Chapter 4

Ranger took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and then did it again. He chuckled, closed my door, and went around the other side to get in.

I thought the pun was worth more than a chuckle, so I glanced at him. When he didn't glance back, I stared at him until he did. I raised my eyebrows, he grinned and raised one eyebrow at me.

"I thought it was worth more than a chuckle."

"It was, Babe. But that's not the first Batman pun I've heard. The guys have been pulling them since they overheard Lula talking about the Batcave."

I thought about all the Bombshell jokes I had heard from them, and cringed. Ranger saw it and chuckled again before going into his driving zone.

A few minutes later we pulled into the parking garage of his office building. I stared at him again, and he spoke before I could say anything.

"Most of the guys and I live here. The top floor is apartments."

Thank goodness for ESP. We rode the elevator to the top floor, and it opened onto a normal looking hallway with doors leading off either side.

He put his hand on the small of my back and steered me to the first door on the left. He unlocked it, and lead me into the Batcave.

The first thing I saw was the pool table. I blinked, and looked around. The room was big enough to fit my living room and kitchen comfortably. The walls were tan-cream, and had been painted to look like dusty adobe walls, or something. The carpet was thick and dark hunter green, that also had the dusty quality to it.

Just to the left of the door were half a dozen coat-hooks on the wall, and a few feet out from the wall was the pool table. To the left of that were two leather loveseats crooked to each other, facing the stone fireplace. The loveseats were overstuffed and made from soft naked leather, not the glossy, slippery stuff. They were half a dozen shades darker than the walls. The mantle was cluttered with pictures.

I walked over. There were several of Rosie at various ages, a couple with Ranger and different groupings of members of his team, and one of him and the guys all holding instruments? I pointed at it and raised my eyebrows at him. "What music do you play?"

"I'll make sure you're at the club next time."

I was about to continue with my line of questioning, but then I saw one of me in my "Security" outfit. "Couldn't you have one from a distraction job?"

He grinned, and put an arm around my waist. "That's the one on my nightstand."

Chapter 5

I spun around in his arms to face him, and he just kept grinning, though his eyes were serious. He turned me a bit and kept leading me around the Batcave.

There was a small room jutting out into the living room, he opened the door and it turned out to be a half bath. Basic white and utilitarian, it wasn't very interesting. He closed the door again and we kept going.

The next room was the dining room, the table was a long oval mahogany, with 8 matching chairs. The same carpet and wall pattern continued in here. Just off to the right was the half-wall separating the kitchen from the dining room. I leaned over it for a quick peek. The kitchen looked ordinary, and there was a table with two chairs (both with their backs to a wall!) in the far left corner. I looked at Ranger.

"Do you cook a lot?"

"Usually the guys and I all take turns cooking dinner when there's nothing else going on. Tonight would be Garret's turn if we didn't have a gig."

"Is Garret the other guy in that band picture?" There had been a guy I didn't recognize.

"Yeah. He used to be a firefighter, but for the last couple years he's been the team's martial arts expert. Good guy, and he plays keyboard really well."

I thought it was odd that he hadn't been holding an instrument in the picture, but Bobby hadn't been either. He probably played drums, then. I tried to remember what Garret looked like from the picture. Angular face, killer grin, really dark brown eyes, obviously in great shape (he was on Ranger's team, after all). His black hair was just long enough to look properly tousled, and it looked like it was usually rumpled up. What was bugging me though was I couldn't figure out where he was from. Not black, not Cuban, not Italian… hmmm.

Ranger steered me back towards the living room and I glanced at the other furniture grouping in the room. Two loveseats and a chair, matching the other two loveseats by the fireplace, were grouped around an entertainment center with a couple of end tables. The entertainment center had a big screen TV, VCR, DVD player, and a large collection of movies. The CDs were on another shelf next to the CD player.

Ranger put his hand in the small of my back and directed me between the chair and the pool table, to the door that I figured led to the rest of the apartment. It opened onto a long hallway. He showed me Rosie's bedroom, which to my surprise looked like any 10 year old girl's bedroom, with a bath leading off. Then he took me through the arch on the left of the hall into a small library with a couple comfy armchairs. The door to the left lead to his office, he said, but he didn't open the door.

He pointed me towards the door on the opposite wall and as he opened it, he said, "This, Babe, is my bedroom."

Chapter 6

A shiver ran up my spine as the door opened, and the first thing I saw was the bed.

Ranger's bedroom, like Rosie's, had departed from the tan and green scheme of the rest of the house, but while Rosie's room was light blue and yellow, Ranger's was composed of dark, warm earth tones. The plush carpet was a dark brown, and it set off the white walls, though you could barely see them because there were wall hangings everywhere. The tapestry-like hangings were also in earth tones, and seemed like an odd combination of Native American patterns and Impressionistic style, magnificent really. The artist had real talent.

The bed was king sized and covered in a soft corduroy spread. The bed was made out of mahogany like the dining room table, and the night stands matched. Just behind the door was the back of a loveseat, which matched the ones in the living room in style, but it was dark brown like the carpet. It faced the wall to my right and there was a TV about the size of mine there, and a small bookcase, against the wall. The closet was just to the left of the loveseat, jutting out into the room, and there was a door between the TV and loveseat on the wall behind me that I assumed led to the bathroom. But what really stunned me was the large sketchbook on the bed, opened to a beautiful drawing of a mountain range.

Time for questions. I smiled at Ranger and spoke.

"Where did the hangings come from?"

"Lester is one quarter Navaho and also has an almost unhealthy obsession with Van Gogh. The hangings are how he supplements his income, but these were all presents for birthdays and Christmases."

I was a little surprised by that, but I was learning to take such things in stride.

"And the sketchbook?" I walked over to it but didn't pick it up. "Did you draw this?"

Ranger smiled, and walked over to me. He picked up the book and handed it to me, gesturing for me to look through it. "I was born and raised in Denver, Babe. It's in my blood to love the mountains."

I looked through the book, slowly turning the pages. It was about half full of drawings, some of mountain ranges, others were slightly changed versions of the patterns on the hangings, and there were a few portraits, all of people I knew. But none of me.

ESP intervened again. "Babe, I know there aren't any of you in there, but that's because I wanted to draw you from a live model, not this picture." He picked up the picture of me on his night stand that he had told me about, and showed it to me, wolf grin full blast.

_Thanks to Trenee and all the chat people for the band name! I wrote the song lyrics, sorry, no melody to go with it._

Chapter 7

It was several hours later, there were half a dozen new drawings in the sketchbook, and I was sprawled across Ranger, totally sated. I was two minutes from falling asleep when Ranger spoke.

"Babe, I'd love to stay like this the rest of the night, but I have a gig."

I started waking up. "Where is this club you play at, anyways?"

"Baker Street Blues Bar. It's a couple blocks away from here. I need to be there in an hour. Do you want to come?"

I smiled. "Of course. Do you play there often?"

"About once a week, barring complications."

I chatted with him about the bar and the band while he got ready, and then off we went.

It was 7:30 when we got there, but they didn't have to be onstage for another hour. Ranger said they played until midnight, usually. The rest of the guys showed up, Amy with Tank (Rosie was with a sitter), just after we did. Garret showed up last, Ranger introduced him to Amy and I, since we had never met before.

"Garret Murray, Stephanie Plum, Amy Manoso." Ahh, so he was Scottish.

We shook hands all around, and I might have been mistaken but I thought Garret's hand lingered a little longer than necessary when he shook Amy's hand. Their eyes locked, until Tank started herding the guys towards the stage.

Amy and I chatted idly for awhile, and I noticed she was worrying Chris's ring on the chain around her neck, nervously.

The club was dark and smoky, but only a little over warm. Ranger had said it was always packed by nine o'clock, but now it was just over half full.

Then they started playing. The band name was Blue Horizon, Ranger had said that Bobby had come up with it. The music had a warm tone to it, with just enough back beat to catch me in the back of the throat.

Lester and Sanchez were on guitar, Bobby had the drums, Tank was playing bass, and Garret, of course, was playing keyboard and singing. And Ranger? He was on the sax. Have I mentioned how sexy a guy who can play an instrument is? Especially the sax? And especially Ranger?

Amy and I were having a great time. They played lots of classics, and some original songs, Ranger had said Garret wrote most of those.

After a couple hours, everybody but Ranger and Lester went offstage for their break. Garret sat next to Amy. Ranger put down the sax and walked up to the mike as Lester started to play.

_Cast your soul upon the waters_

_You won't need it anymore_

_Cast your heart into the ocean_

_I'm here and I'll pull us to shore_

_Everything I want is here before me_

_Everything I'll ever need_

'_Cause here you are, my loved one_

_And you're the one I'd love to keep_

_You tell me you don't know what love is_

_I tell you it's what is here between_

_All I ask is that you trust me_

_Just one moment, love, don't leave_

_Cast your soul upon the waters_

_Every moment I love you more_

_Cast your heart into the ocean_

_Will you help me swim to shore?_

_It's okay if you can't say the words_

_I love you anyway_

_And I hope you'll stay here with me_

_You could say them one of these days_

_I'll never ask of you any more_

_Than I'd ever ask of me_

_And I'll never tell a promise_

_That I won't be able to keep_

_Cast your soul upon the waters_

_Cast your troubles to the sea_

_Cast your heart into the ocean_

_You'll be safe when you're with me_

_Love you'll be safe forever_

That's a promise, straight from me 

I just sat there as he walked back to the table.

Chapter 8

As Ranger walked towards me, the guys got up and headed for the stage, Garret whispering something to Amy as he got up. I noticed her swallow and put on an emotionless mask out of the corner of my eye as Ranger reached me. He took my hand and gently brushed his lips across my knuckles as he led me to the dance floor. He held me close and we swayed lightly back and forth as I heard Garret start to play. It took me a moment to recognize the song, I hadn't heard Billy Joel's "She's Got A Way" in a long time, and wasn't expecting to hear it in a blues bar. But I had a question to ask.

"Did you write that song?"

"No."

I felt a pang of disappointment that caught me entirely by surprise. Really. Then he spoke again.

"My father wrote it for my mother when he was trying to get her to date him. Max sang it to Clara for the same reason, though he had never sung it to her sister. We're a little further along, but that was the first chance I had."

I stood as tall as I could and pressed a kiss to the side of his mouth, and then buried my face in his neck. That was the sweetest thing any man had ever done for me.

The song ended, and Ranger led me back to the table before heading back to the stage. Amy was still sitting there, mask on.

"Amy, are you all right?"

She started a bit when I put my hand on her arm, and looked at me for a couple seconds until I repeated the question.

"Yeah, sure." She didn't sound sure, so I raised my eyebrows at her. "It's… just… this thing with Garret." She wasn't looking at me, and her hands were making fluttery motions that she didn't seem to be aware of.

"He doing something you don't like?" I hadn't known Amy very long, and Garret even less, but if he was being a jerk, well, Burg girls know how to deal with jerks.

"No! Well… it's just, this is scaring me a little. It's like we have this instant connection. I met him what, a couple hours ago, barely talked to him, but there's this chemistry…." She shook her head, hard. "I'm not ready for this. Not yet. Not after…."

A thought popped into my head. "Does he know about…."

"I don't know. I know he knows I'm Rosie's mom, but I don't know if he knows…." She played with the ring again. "I've never had this connection with anyone before. Ric and I did, a little, not to this extent. What-" her voice caught, "Chris and I had built slowly over time. How do I deal with this?"

Chapter 9

The idea of me giving out dating advice seemed a little ludicrous, but it looked like I was the only one for it.

"Amy, if you aren't ready, you need to tell Garret that. Jumping into a relationship before you're ready is never a good thing." Just look at MY track record. But this was about Amy, not me. "I'm sure it took you a while after the divorce to start dating again. Right?"

"Yeah, but I don't know that it will take that long this time, or it might take longer. I don't know."

"Sure, every relationship's different. Umm, if you don't mind my asking, how long did it take last time?"

She was staring at the stage, but whether it was at Ranger or Garret I couldn't tell. "Chris asked me out for the first time about five years ago, but I wasn't ready. Ric did some stupid things, but I still loved him. Our first date was two weeks after Rosie's eighth birthday."

I was relieved when she said "loved" instead of "love" and did some quick mental math. "Chris waited three years for you?"

"Longer, really. He said once that he started falling for me when Rosie was three or so." She was fiddling with the necklace again.

Okay, this was WAY out of my league. "Okay, so who do you want to tell Garret about Chris?"

"I guess Tank or Bobby. Ranger's out of the question, I don't know the other guys that well, and you just met Garret when I did."

When the next break time came, Tank walked straight over to a tall black woman who had just sat down at the bar, so I snagged Bobby. I told him what was going on, and he agreed to talk to Garret, and be nice, like I asked. I watched as he got Garret away from Amy, and then I went to sit next to her, since Ranger was still onstage with Lester. Garret and Bobby finished talking just as it was time for Ranger and Lester's break, so they went back onstage without talking to Amy.

This time Ranger and I danced to a really slow jazz tune. About halfway through I remembered a question I had been meaning to ask Ranger for awhile now.

"Ranger?"

"Yeah, Babe?" He pulled back a bit and smiled at me.

"Out of curiosity, when did you start wearing white silk boxers? They really suit you, but I wouldn't have seen you choosing to wear them."

"Remember when you were hunting Uncle Mo? Right about then is when I realized what you were starting to mean to me, though we barely knew each other. Ordinary cotton boxers didn't seem right anymore, and I wore plenty of black already, so it's been white silk ever since."

I smiled and was about to say something when a voice rose over the crowd.

"Ricardo Carlos Manoso! It's about time we found you!"

Chapter 10

I turned to look for whoever had called Ranger, and when he put his arm around my shoulders mine automatically went around his waist. I glanced up at him and saw that he was amused, and trying to hide a little confusion. A moment later, five Cubans broke through the crowd. Two I recognized as Max and Clara from the picture Ranger had shown me, and there was another, older, couple and a guy who couldn't be more than 25 years old with them. I could see a resemblance to Ranger in all of them.

"Babe, these are my parents, Eduardo and Anna Manoso, my brother Max and his wife Clara, and my kid brother Antonio. Papa, this is Stephanie Plum."

Ranger's father gave me a softer version of the 200 watt smile, and shook my hand. "Miss Plum, it is a pleasure to finally meet you. Our son has been talking about you for over a year, and it is a delight to discover our expectations have not been disappointed, but overpowered."

A few of the times that Ranger had said "You never disappoint, babe" wandered through my mind, including the sketchbook incident that afternoon. I just barely fought off the blush, and smiled in return. "It's wonderful to meet you too, and please, call me Stephanie."

The guys noticed Ranger was with family, and went up to finish the set without him. Ranger and I led his family back to the table with Amy, and we talked for hours. Amy and the Manosos seemed to get along very well, which surprised me, but I was getting used to being surprised.

Ranger's family was part surprise, and partly exactly what I had expected. Mr. Manoso, or Papa Duardo as he insisted I call him, shared Ranger's sense of humor but had an unpredictable streak a mile wide, which I suppose is a good thing for an inventor. Mama Anna was the benevolent despot of the family, her family's military background showed. Max was a more relaxed non-bounty hunter version of Ranger, in fact he was a dance instructor in New York. Clara, though she looked like a Cuban Terri Gilman, was much nicer, and a psychiatrist, specializing in gifted children.

Tonio, it seemed, was the family oddball. He was a rodeo clown! In spite of his mother's wishes that he get a more stable job, he traveled all around the country on the rodeo circuit. I couldn't see much difference in stability between being a rodeo clown and a bounty hunter, but who was I to judge? I had a mother of my own.

The evening took a tense turn when I spotted Morelli.

Chapter 11

He had just walked in the door and was glancing around the room. His cop face was on, and there were two officers with him, all three were in plainclothes. I had seen the other two around the station, but I couldn't remember their names. Morelli noticed me, raised an eyebrow, and gave a small nod. I nodded in return and turned back to the table, just now noticing they were staring at me.

"Old boyfriend. He's a cop, looks like he's here on business," I explained.

Ranger looked relaxed but his eyes were blank. I squeezed his hand, and he smiled at me. That stopped when Morelli walked over to our table.

"Morelli." Wow, Ranger can really break the ice.

"Ranger. Hello Stephanie."

"What brings you here, Joe?" I didn't feel like being polite, he had no right to walk over to us.

"Waiting for a guy so we can take him to a safe house." Morelli noticed he wasn't going to be introduced around, and stiffened a bit. Just then, a man came out of the shadows of a corner near the stage.

"Joe Morelli?"

"Yeah. You ready to go?" So this was the guy. He was about Joe's height, fair skinned, and blue eyed with fluffy blond hair. He was well built but though he was trim he wasn't in quite as good of shape as Joe, and he had a, call it self confident air about him that just pushed the limits of arrogance. Amy was staring at him though she had just seen a ghost. "Paul Dupont?"

He turned and looked at her curiously, then blinked. "Amy Ivanbach? Didn't you get married and move to Florida?"

"And divorced a year later. I moved up here last week. You?" She didn't even glance at Ranger.

"I landed Inspector Javier in Les Mis in New York. Which, of course, got me into this mess."

Morelli was getting confused and annoyed, and that was never a good combination. "Paul, we need to get you out of here. And stop talking about the case, or it'll be all over town by morning." He glanced at me.

I was about to blow up in his face, but Amy was faster. "Steph can keep her mouth shut better than certain hotshot detectives with cousins who work in airports."

Morelli was half a second from angrily responding to an amused looking Amy, but Max broke in first. "So, Paul, you made Les Mis?" A little of the tension disappated as Max, who apparently used to teach Paul, made small talk. Morelli and Paul left a few minutes later.

I raised my eyebrows at Amy, and she started to somewhat absentmindedly explain. "Paul and I went to high school together. I was good friends with his brother, and had a major crush on Paul for a couple years that recurs every few years for a week or two. We feuded or ignored each other by turns. He doesn't know, or need to, about the crush."

Author's Note: There really are such things as safe pyros. I'm one of them. You never put anybody else in danger and you're really careful about yourself. You never burn anything that isn't yours to burn and you're really careful to only burn the things you intend to. It might be an odd hobby, but it isn't criminal.

Chapter 12

Moments after Amy's run in with her own Morelli; the band finished its last set for the evening. Tank brought the tall black woman who had been sitting at the bar over to us. He started to introduce her with a mischievous twinkle in his eye, which was hard to pull off since he was 6'5 and well over 200 pounds.

"Everybody, this is my fiancee who you've all been dying to meet-"

She cut him off. "Sparks, just call me Sparks." She jabbed Tank in the side with her elbow.

In retaliation, he continued his sentence. "- Enid Elvira Evergreen." The table chuckled good-naturedly, and Sparks gave Tank a death glare.

"Thanks _so_ much for the introduction, Bartholomew Melville Harf." The chuckles grew considerably louder. But Sparks wasn't done yet. "Or, as you were known in the service, Bartville. Which got mispronounced regularly."

Nobody was making any effort to be polite about laughing, and Tank looked like his feathers were seriously ruffled when he and Sparks sat down. I was worried that nobody paid him much attention, but relaxed when he brightened up after a few minutes.

Sparks was an interesting person. When asked about her nickname, she grinned and replied, "Well, partly it's my personality, but mostly it's the pyromaniac tendencies." When she noticed the slightly worried looks coming from everybody but Tank and Clara, she hurried to explain. "Oh, don't worry, I'm a safe pyro, I just think fire and smoke are fascinating. Which is why I like my job so much." As it turned out she worked for movie studios in New York as an explosion special effects consultant. She and Clara, who shared her interest, immediately started into a conversation about fuses, accelerants, and rocket velocities which quickly got too technical for most of the rest of us to follow.

Conversation continued around them. Garret, who had been helping Bobby pack up his drum set, came over to the table. He had just enough time to exchange pleasantries about the band with Amy before Bobby ushered him away, saying they had an early job in the morning. Lest and Sanchez had already left several minutes before, pleading door duty on Stark Street.

The rest of us broke up not too long afterwards. All of us but Ranger's parents and Amy promised to meet up the next week. Tonio was apparently staying with Max and Clara for awhile, his parents were making him check out CCNY. Any had a church function the next time Blue Horizon was playing, and Ranger's parents were going home.

Chapter 13

In Ranger's black BMW, we slid through the night for several silent minutes, insulated against the lightly chilled night air. Ranger didn't seem to be in his zone so much as he was relaxed, but I was contemplating something.

I had known Ranger only a couple of years. In the Burg, where most people marry someone they poured milk on in kindergarten, it wasn't that long of a friendship. To the rest of the world, well, who knows. I didn't.

My past with men hadn't been that great, admittedly. Play choo-choo with Morelli at six. Lose virginity to Morelli at sixteen. Several "steady" boyfriends in high school, all of those relationships had ended in shambles. Run Morelli over with a Buick at eighteen. Several steady boyfriends in college, most of those relationships ended with us as the best of friends. Marry Dickie. Imitate The Exorcist at divorce court, which was really a shame since I had been leaning more towards So I Married An Ax-Murderer. Maybe I hadn't seen the movie, but an ax would have come in handy. Long dry spell after Dickie. Become infatuated with Morelli. Again. Get fed up with Morelli. Again. Break off engagement.

And hop into bed with Ranger? That wasn't what had happened, but the Burg didn't care. My parents, or rather my mother, had been okay with Ranger once we had had a discussion about him. That had lasted way too long in my opinion, not nearly long enough in hers, but that was normal.

Other than my family, though, the Burg was pretty well split. My friends behind me, Joe's behind him. Carl and Eddie were the only cops being friendly to me at the moment, and there were a few like Big Dog and Gaspick (who didn't care) who were civil. Or as civil as Gaspick was capable of. The rest ranged from ice to acid. But I had dealt with Burg isolation before, I could do it again. I glanced at Ranger. It was worth it. This was-

This was the best relationship I had ever been in. No more than a couple of weeks old, and any moment of it was better than any of the best moments of my past relationships. Ranger and I shared trust, affection, well, make that lust, companionship, and-

And love. I love Ranger. Three words can turn your nice, safe, comfortable world upside down. I basked in the glow of this revelation for the rest of the ride to Ranger's.

We got back to his place, I waited until he closed the front door. "Ranger."

He smiled. "Yeah Babe."

"I love you."

That stopped him in his tracks. "Oh, Babe, I love you too." He leaned in to kiss me-

And his cell phone shrilled. He picked it up, listened, and hung up. "That was Amy."

THE END


End file.
